[HN Gopher] Netscape's Constellation (1997)
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Netscape's Constellation (1997)
Author : Lammy
Score : 29 points
Date : 2023-01-06 19:34 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (people.apache.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (people.apache.org)
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| For context, IIRC 1997 is close to when UserLand was first
| pushing blogging and syndication.
|
| The first generation of walled gardens had largely been
| conquered, and the next generation had not yet arisen...
| blakesterz wrote:
| https://people.apache.org/~jim/NewArchitect/webrevu/index.ht...
|
| Wow, these site is quite a fun trip back in time! So much good
| reading here.
|
| I love this one "How librarians are shaping the web."
|
| https://people.apache.org/~jim/NewArchitect/webrevu/1997/07_...
| [deleted]
| fifteenforty wrote:
| Ahh, remember Windows 95/98 Active Desktop? What a resource pig!
| Seemed cool at the time though.
| [deleted]
| don-code wrote:
| It took awhile before PCs really caught up with the demands
| that a full-fledged Active Desktop would put on them. I
| remember trying it on my 83MHz Pentium with 16MB of RAM, and
| later a 233MHz Pentium II with 32MB of RAM, both without much
| success.
|
| Towards the early 2000s, I was using it successfully on an
| Athlon XP with 256MB of RAM, displaying some live-updating
| weather widgets. That worked wonderfully, and actually felt
| like a great use of Active Desktop. Screenshot:
| https://hardwarehacks.org/lt/bcweather4tn.jpg
| Lammy wrote:
| There's a live demo of Constellation in Computer Chronicles'
| Comdex '96 episode for anyone who wants to see it in motion:
| https://youtu.be/FNPCD55IQ8Q?t=711
| karpour wrote:
| I came here to post just that! On a different note, I'll take
| this chance to plug the Computer Chronicles Metadata project!
| If you're _really_ into Computer Chronicles, you might even
| want to join our efforts to properly archive every episode on
| the IA :)
|
| https://computerchronicles.karpour.net/
| Lammy wrote:
| Thanks for making me aware of this! I am right in the middle
| of doing my own encodes (cropped, color-corrected,
| deinterlaced, consistent audio levels, HEVC/AAC, etc) from
| the MPEG files on Archive, and this will save me a ton of
| time.
| rconti wrote:
| > Let's say you subscribe to the hypothetical MTV live site. You
| specify the music you like and it's automatically downloaded in
| the background or overnight. Clips for new music in your genre
| can be automatically broadcast to you -- no need to click and
| wait.
|
| ah, the nostalgia of slow connections
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Also, a vision of a world not hampered by DRM to excess.
| TheDudeMan wrote:
| "Clips", not whole tracks.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| On the one hand, I did actually miss that. On the other
| hand, no; I don't believe that even clips would fly today.
| rzzzt wrote:
| https://www.my90stv.com/
| watersb wrote:
| Wow. I was a contractor on the Netcaster team summer of 1997.
| That's the offline web subscription thing, the UI of which runs
| along the right side column in that Constellation screen shot.
|
| A small group built a simple desktop UI as a tech demo. They'd
| start the talk at that desktop, launch the "web browser" and demo
| some web page techniques, then close the "browser" and deliver
| the punchline: "Now we're back to the desktop. And we're still in
| the web browser."
|
| Front-end development in that era was called "web design", not
| programming. A big part of our job was to change that perception,
| to show that a web "site" could be an interactive experience.
|
| The front-line techs at companies committed to a web presence
| already knew this stuff, and it was an incredible privilege to be
| working with them. But those responsible for allocating web site
| budgets had some tough decisions to make, 25 years ago.
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